| Zebraman 2: Attack on Zebra City | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Takashi Miike |
| Written by | Kankurō Kudō |
| Starring | Show Aikawa Riisa Naka Tsuyoshi Abe Masahiro Inoue Naoki Tanaka Guadalcanal Taka |
| Distributed by | Toei |
| Release date(s) | May 1, 2010 |
| Running time | 106 minutes |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
Zebraman 2: Attack on Zebra City (ゼブラーマン -ゼブラシティの逆襲- Zeburāman -Zebura Shiti no Gyakushū-) is the 2010 sequel to the 2004 film Zebraman. The film features Show Aikawa reprising his leading role from the original, and also stars Riisa Naka and Masahiro Inoue.[1] The film's tagline is "Let's get ready to fight!" (白黒つけるぜ！ Shirokuro tsukeru ze!, a pun as it contains the kanji for "white" (白 shiro) and "black" (黒 kuro)). The film has done poorly in Japanese box offices, which may be due to the film's theme of a religious war with the antagonists as analogies of the Happy Science movement in Japan.[2]
On November 29, 2011, Funimation Entertainment released the film in the United States. The contents of the Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack contains movie in Japanese with English subtitles. The Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack contains Special Features and making-ofs.
Contents |
By 2025, fifteen years after the events of Zebraman, Tokyo has renamed itself Zebra City, and has instituted a "Zebra Time" starting at 5:00 AM/PM for 5 minutes in which the government allows the Zebra Police to attack any and all presumed criminals. One Zebra Time results in the attempted murder of Shinichi Ichikawa, also known as Zebraman. Surviving the attack but having lost his memories, he must team up with television's fake Zebraman and a young protege to save a mysterious little girl from Zebra Queen and her Zebra Police, and then the world from Zebra Queen's ultimate plan to use the strange aliens from 2010 to bring Zebra Time to the whole world.
For the film, Riisa Naka as the Zebra Queen released a single titled "Namida (Kokoro Abaite)" (NAMIDA～ココロアバイテ～, "Tears (Through His Heart)") on April 21, 2010, to serve as the film's theme song. A music video was also released featuring Naka in the character of Zebra Queen singing the song.[3] A music video was also recorded for the other song included on the single, "Theme of Zebra Queen" (ゼブラクイーンのテーマ Zebura Kuīn no Tēma), which is also used in the film's trailers. For the music videos and all performances of the song, Zebra Queen has a Lady Gaga-like persona.[4]
A direct to video movie called Vengeful Zebra Mini-Skirt Police (ゼブラミニスカポリスの逆襲 Zebura Minisuka Porisu no Gyakushū) was released on April 19, 2010, to promote the upcoming release of Zebraman 2. The story is set in 2024, one year before the events of the sequel, and focuses on the characters of the Zebra Mini-Skirt Police. The film also features Suzu Natsume as Sayuri Yuki, Shinji Kasahara as a rebel, Yasukaze Motomiya as Ogata, and Guadalcanal Taka as Kozo Aihara.